Rusting the Magnolia
by ladyd10
Summary: It's the emotional fall-out from the events surrounding Wrecking Crew. If you don't want spoilers, please pass it by.


_**A/N: This was inspired by Wrecking Crew. If you haven't seen it and don't want spoilers, please pass this by. And for all of you who are waiting for the next installment of Little Steps, it's coming. My hard drive crashed and I just got everything reloaded so now I can write again.**_

_**Rusting the Magnolia**_

It had possibly been one of the absolute worst days of her life and she'd had some truly spectacularly dismal ones. Even visiting with William in the morgue hadn't helped. It only proved to make it more painful. She had allowed herself the fantasy, as she took his cold hand in her warm one, of having been able to pull him up out of the crevasse that the floor had become. He had lived. Calleigh held up her right hand in front of her, making and releasing a fist, marveling at how something so strong could have turned out to be so weak. He had not lived; she had lost her grip on him and watched him fall to his death. With a heavy sigh she closed her locker and made her way toward the door just as Eric walked in.

He had been looking for her all over the Lab. He knew that she still wasn't okay and wouldn't be for a long time to come. Eric could still hear her despairing, anguished cry when William Campbell slipped from her grasp only to be impaled and die just twenty feet below where she knelt. He could only imagine the horror with which her mind must have recoiled at seeing that innocent man die in front of her and she was powerless to stop it. He had tried to offer her comfort earlier in the day, but she had stubbornly pulled away although he could see how badly she ached for it. He could sense how badly she needed to hear that it wasn't her fault that Campbell died.

"Hey, I've been looking for you," he said, blocking her way.

She sighed tiredly, although she knew that she wouldn't sleep that night; not a single wink. "What do you need, Eric? I was on my way out."

"What do I need?" Eric echoed. "I need you to stop blaming yourself. It's not your fault, Calleigh. You did your best to save him."

"Save it, Eric," she replied harshly. "You weren't the one that let him go. You weren't the one that wasn't strong enough. Now, please get out of my way so I can go home."

He spread his legs, taking a firmer stance. "You're not going anywhere; not if I have a say, and I do. Give me your car keys. You're too distracted to drive."

"I am perfectly capable of driving myself home," she said, slapping his outstretched hand away. "Just stop it, alright?"

"I'll stop worrying about you when you cut yourself some slack. Since you're not willing to do that right now I want your car keys and I will drive you home," Eric said reasonably. In truth she was scaring him silly. Her earlier admission that she wasn't alright after Beth Campbell slapped her face still shook him. He had never known Calleigh to be so affected by a case before. "Please let me do this for you after the day you've just had."

"Eric-"

"Please," was all he said before the fight went out of her and she handed the keys over without a word. Eric stepped aside and let her precede him out and down to the garage. He escorted her to her car, holding open the passenger door as she got in.

"Are you going to talk to me?" Eric asked as he started the engine.

"I don't want to talk."

Eric drove for a while before trying again. "You're going to have to talk about it eventually. I know Horatio told you about the Union shrink-"

"Stop the car and get out," Calleigh said softly. "Don't you dare use this vehicle to corner me and try to make me....just get out. I'll drive myself the rest of the way home."

Eric pulled to the curb but made no move to leave. "Make you do what?"

She wouldn't look at him. "Nothing."

"I'm not getting out," Eric said quietly.

Calleigh's head shot up. "Then I am." She opened her door and got out before Eric had time to react. He cut the engine and got out, following her along the quiet stretch of beach that greeted them as they entered Bal Harbor.

Eric sprinted to get ahead of her. He stopped in front of her and grabbed her shoulders. "Stop this running away."

She fought with his grip, but, like that morning, didn't have the upper body strength to break away. "Leave me alone. Let me go!"

Eric was angry and knew he had to make her understand. "No. I'm going to say this once so you damn will better be paying attention. I don't care that you feel guilty for losing your grip on William Campbell. I can say that it wasn't your fault from now until forever but that won't matter to you. Did you ever stop and think of what could have happened if you didn't lose your grip on him? Did you even stop and think that he could have just as easily dragged you over the edge with him; that you could be in the morgue right now with Y incision in your chest? I-I could have lost you today Calleigh. I could have lost you. Does that matter to you even the slightest bit?"

She stopped struggling and looked up at him, surprised to see that he had tears in his eyes. "Eric, I.....it never even......what I'm trying to say is......I don't know."

"I do. You were wrapped up in your own guilt so tightly that you didn't see the concern and love around you; how close you came to dying, yourself," Eric felt her resistance falter and then crumble and he pulled her into an embrace. He stroked her silky hair as her arms wrapped around him and she began to tremble. "Calleigh, you did everything you could to save him. I don't know if even I could have pulled him back up with everything crumbling around us. You did your best. It's okay to grieve; let it out."

Calleigh buried her face in Eric's chest and let it all go. "I'm sorry; I'm so sorry. I knew you were......and Ryan..... but I just couldn't.....why couldn't I save him? Why did his family have to be shattered?"

Eric's voice was husky as he spoke. "I don't know, Querida; I don't know. All I know is that I'm glad you're alive and here with me and that you trust me enough to help you through this. To have lost you today would have killed me. I am so grateful that you're still here."

She gripped him tighter, sensing through her guilt-riddled haze that he needed comforting, too. "I'm here, Eric; I'm here. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

A sudden realization struck her. He needed her. Eric Delko needed her. She tilted her head up so that she could see his face. Tears were slowly trickling down his cheeks from eyes that were squeezed shut. Calleigh's heart lurched with the epiphany. Her voice was whisper soft as she reached up to wipe his damp cheek. "Eric, I need you, too."


End file.
